Stadium: for sports? Yesish Is the specific competition what the stadium was intended for? Unsure. Could you please rephrase? Is the competition a sport? Yope We: the participants? The audience? Neither

If so, a particular type of bread? Wheat? White? Rye? Brown bread? Bread with fruit in it? Nuts? Cinnamon? Frosted bread? (I love frosted raisin bread) Simply bread. I would like to taste the latter, but in this part of the world bread is ... simply ordinary bread

Some other breadlike good? Cake? Muffins? Donuts? "Let them eat cake" relevant? No to all. Like I said, what I meant is just bread

(Well, even ordinary bread has to be made out of something...the kind of flour it has in it would determine if it is, say, wheat bread, white bread (bleached wheat flour), rye bread, etc.) True, just not relevant

Bread eating contest? (Grasping at straws here) No, and starting from the title is the hardest way to arrive at the solution

Can the competition be considered a sport? Does it take place on a field? In a ring? At a table? When participating, are people standing up? Sitting down? Running around? Do they make contact with the other person? Hitting the other person? Kicking? Tackling? Is it a shin-kicking competition?

Can the competition be considered a sport? No! Good question Does it take place on a field? In a ring? At a table? When participating, are people standing up? Sitting down? Running around? Do they make contact with the other person? Hitting the other person? Kicking? Tackling? Is it a shin-kicking competition? No or irrelevant to the rest. It was a one-time event, not something done regularly

Were any other people involved in the "competition"? Not in a relevant way Any animals? Plants? Other objects? Than what? But objects were certainly involved, for svv of 'objects' Could this be considered a contest? Yope A duel? Certainly not

Did the competition involve people dying? Something else dying? No to both

Short recap: A competition between two HAM took place in the stadium of Domitianus in Rome, Italy. It involved objects, one of which was a statue. No sports were involved and nobody lost his life. Luckily for us, we can still enjoy it.

Can we enjoy: the competition itself? The results of it? Did it produce a tangible result? Did one person win? If so, could we enjoy "it" if the other one had won? The "it" we can enjoy, is it the stadium itself?

Can we enjoy: the competition itself? No The results of it? Yes Did it produce a tangible result? Yes Did one person win? No If so, could we enjoy "it" if the other one had won? N/AThe "it" we can enjoy, is it the stadium itself? No, but this is very much OTRT

A goddess?? Ceres, perhaps? (Greek = Demeter?) From whence the English word 'cereal' originates, as a synonym for grain in this case? Grain = flour = bread!! Nice thinking, but no, i'm afraid. It was a 'generic' god or a god-like creature, without a specific name. Even if it had a name, that is entirely irrelevant

Was the competition intended to please the river god? Did it involve swimming? Did it involve an actual river? Some other body of water? No to all. The fact that it was a river god is irrelevant. Could have been any god as far as the competition and this puzzle are concerned

Here's the recap: A one-time competition (or a contest, for svv of both) between two HAMs took place in the stadium of Domitianus in Rome, Italy. It involved objects, one of which was a statue -- representing a river god -- and the other a yesish temple. No sports were involved and nobody lost his life. Luckily for us, we can still enjoy it -- that is, the result of it. The stadium in itself was not specifically meant to host this competition and is relevant only insofar we want to pinpoint the actual events. The title should not be considered relevant anymore, because doing otherwise will get us stuck till even after the last trombone will be played, paraphrasing a puzzle hosted by woodworm that I enjoyed a lot.

I should mention, for the sake of accuracy, that the story is apocryphal, but widely believed to be true. Not relevant for the puzzle, anyway. Also, as in all my puzzles, googling or otherwise using external references is entirely acceptable.

Is the thing built a part of the stadium? Indeed it is! It's a church, now part of the former stadium.

Short recap:

We have a "competition" between a statue and a church, in a former Roman stadium. What prompted this 'competition' and what is the competition about? To clarify the end of the puzzle statement, it simply means that we can still see both the statue and the church Another statue? Of a god? Or goddess?

Was the intent of the competition to see which was more majestic? Probably this More glorious?

********* SPOILER ********* In one of the finest squares of Rome, Piazza Navona (the former stadium of Domitianus) one can still see the Fountain of the 4 Rivers, built by the famous Gian Lorenzo Bernini, standing in front of the church of St. Agnes, built by the equally famous rival of Bernini, Francesco Borromini. It is often said that Bernini sculpted the figure of the "Rio de la Plata" (one of the gods in his fountain) cowering as if he thought the facade designed by his rival Borromini could crumble atop him. This is an urban legend and a remembrance for the two great artists, but is of course false: the fountain was built before the church itself.

The reference to bread in the title is simple. Enraged by the construction of the statue, riots ensued in Rome and people were posting messages like this one: "We do not want Obelisks and Fountains, It is bread that we want. Bread, Bread, Bread!"

Thanks to all for playing

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